A little over a month after the release of the first-ever AAA game title in Windows Store—Rise of the Tomb Raider—Windows 10 gamers are getting a new blockbuster: Gears of War: Ultimate Edition. Like its predecessor, this remastered Gears game offers 4K graphics capabilities on the PC.

And like Rise of the Tomb Raider, this new version of Gears of War—remember, it’s a remake of the original Gears game, which did actually ship on the PC 8 long years ago—comes with some heady hardware requirements: Windows 10 version 1511 64-bit, a 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5 or better, 8 GB of RAM, and Geforce GTX 650 Ti or Radeon R7 260x graphics with 2 GB of dedicated RAM. And the recommended specs–4 GHz Core i7, 16 GB of RAM, Geforce GTX 980 Ti or Radeon R9 390X graphics with 6 GB of dedicated RAM—are also decidedly high-end.

Here’s a rundown of what’s new in the Windows 10 version of the game (much of which debuted first on the Xbox One):

• Remastered 4K-capable graphics and cinematic cutscenes
• Remastered for Dolby 7.1 Surround Sound
• Dedicated multiplayer servers for “fast and fair” play
• 19 multiplayer maps, including all of the original Xbox 360 (and DLC) multiplayer maps plus the three multiplayer maps from the original Gears for PC
• New multiplayer modes: Team Death Match, King of the Hill, Blitz and a special 2v2 mode designed by the Gears of War community (plus the original modes: Warzone, Assassination, Execution and Annex)
• New Xbox Live Achievements with 1250 new Gamerscore
• Alternate controls with support for keyboard or gamepad controls
• A new difficulty level for players new to the game
• Free Deluxe Weapon Skin Pack and 11 bonus multiplayer characters

I did get early access to this game, but most of the PCs I have at the moment are unable to play it in all of its visual splendor. But this is clearly the remastered Xbox One version of the game taken to new graphical heights. And that is a wonderful thing.

Posted: Mar 01, 2016 12:54 pm
Related Forum: Gaming Discussion